This invention relates to floor cleaning machines and particularly to five in one floor cleaning machines wherein clean water is progressively converted to dirty or spent water, all retained by the machine which is self contained.
Of the variety of floor cleaning machines devised over the past several decades, a few have suggested a five in one cleaning concept for cleaning carpet or other floor covering materials. Such a concept involves the steps of (1) applying clean wash water solution to an area of the floor, (2) scrubbing the floor with this clean wash water solution, (3) vacuuming the dirty, i.e., spent, wash water off the floor area, (4) applying clean rinse water to the floor area, and (5) vacuuming the spent rinse water from the floor, all in one pass. A substantial part of the weight load of such a floor cleaning machine is that of the clean and dirty water. Floor cleaning machines have part of the load thereof applied to a pair of wheels and part applied to the scrub brush and vacuum nozzles on the floor. The use of an axle and wheels allows the machine to be tilted for lifting of the scrub brush and vacuum nozzles off the floor for ready traverse to the desired location as for cleaning. The load applied at the brush enables it to scrub effectively.
The water load in such machines is very substantial. During use, the weight of this water is progressively transferred from the clean water vessel to the dirty or spent water vessel. This transfer normally causes a consequential change in the amount of load applied to the scrub brush and nozzles against the floor. This change causes the nature of the cleaning action to constantly change during operation. This is because the center of gravity of the load changes during water transfer.